Skyview rolls past Evergreen

Skyview shrugged off Evergreen’s fast start to Friday’s Greater St. Helens 4A League matchup and kept its playoff push on track with a 49-6 victory at Kiggins Bowl.

The Plainsmen took the opening kickoff and marched 81 yards for a touchdown and a quick 6-0 lead, but the Storm didn’t panic.

The hosts needed only three plays to take the lead, and they cruised from there, taking advantage of six Evergreen turnovers and some special teams magic to roll to a seventh consecutive victory in the series.

“We just needed to check in, know what we did wrong defensively, and execute on their next drive,” said Storm senior Blake Ingram, who ran for three touchdowns and had a game-high 10 tackles at linebacker. “And on offense, we just needed to punch them in the mouth and show them we would do our best.”

Skyview’s best was plenty good on this night as it kept alive its hopes of an 11th consecutive playoff appearance.

Dallas Goodpaster gave Evergreen its short-lived lead with a 1-yard run, but on Skyview’s first play following the kickoff, Ingram took a screen pass from Blake Barnum and rumbled 69 yards to the Plainsmen 7. Two plays later, Ingram scored on a 3-yard run.

Evergreen punted on its next drive, but Aaron Wise blocked the kick, then tackled punter Cameron Coffler at the 4. Two plays later, Ingram plunged in from the 1, and the rout was on.

“One play like that can raise a team’s morale and change the mentality of a team, of a game,” Ingram said. “That’s what happened tonight.”

Barnum finished 8 of 11 passing for 178 yards and a touchdown, and Dyvon Green scored two touchdowns for the Storm, including a 22-yard return of a fumble by Wise on the second-half kickoff when it looked like Wise would go in for the score.

“We got the momentum going our way, and we were able to put a team away for two weeks in a row, which is nice to see,” said Skyview coach Steve Kizer.

With the victory, the Storm set up a showdown with Union next Friday at McKenzie Stadium, needing a win to at least force a Kansas Plan tiebreaker for the final two GSHL regional playoff berths.

“We’re in playoff mode right now,” Kizer said. “We’re fighting for our lives each week. We just need to get focused again and play like we have the last two weeks.”

Of course, a Skyview win followed by an Evergreen upset of Mountain View in the late game at McKenzie, and the Storm is in as the No. 2 regional seed and the Thunder’s season would be done.

“Mountain View is a rivalry game,” Goodpaster said. “It’s my senior year, my last game. We’re out of the playoffs, so why not knock somebody else out? It’d feel great.”

SKYVIEW 49, EVERGREEN 6

Evergreen 6 0 0 0— 6

Skyview 21 21 7 0—49

First Quarter

E — Dallas Goodpaster 1 run (kick blocked)

S — Blake Ingram 3 run (Braden Hadfield kick)

S — Ingram 1 run (Hadfield kick)

S — Ingram 5 run (Hadfield kick)

Second Quarter

S — Hadfield 64 pass from Brody Barnum (Hadfield kick)

S — Dyvon Green 5 run (Hadfield kick)

S — Josh Seynaeve 1 run (Hadfield kick)

Third Quarter

S — Green 22 kickoff return (Hadfield kick)

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING—E, Goodpaster 10-58, Marquis Sampson 7-15, Nathaniel Trevino 6-23, Tre Ratcliff 1-2, team 1-(minus 12). S, Ingram 8-31, Green 3-33, Aaron Wise 3-(minus 8), Seynaeve 2-7, Tavis Chunphakvenn-Pinkney 1-3, Hayden Froeber 1-(minus 1), James Millspaugh 1-(minus 4), team 1-(minus 3).

PASSING—E, Peyton Monda 14-26-4-168. S, Barnum 8-11-0-178, Nick Stewart 1-3-1-8, Max Rose 0-1-0-0.

RECEIVING—E, Dustin Nettles 11-122, Sampson 3-46. S, Ingram 2-65, Chunphakvenn-Pinkney 2-18, Travis Yajko 2-25, Hadfield 1-64, Griffin Sissel 1-8, Jeremiah Wright 1-6.